Third of a three-part series of book excerpts On Dec. 21, 2010, President Obama’s Federal Communications Commission fittingly chose the darkest day in 372 years to impose potentially devastating regulations on the previously free-market Internet.
Early that morning, for the first time since 1638, the moon was eclipsed, blocking out the sun on the day of the winter solstice, already the darkest day of the year.
And just as the moon was eclipsed that day, Congress, the American people, and our constitutional system of government will be eclipsed if the FCC’s regulatory coup d’etat — orchestrated by the White House — is allowed to stand.
On a party-line vote, three Democrats at the FCC decided to substitute their own judgment for the legitimate democratic process.
Those three FCC commissioners ordered that the Internet be regulated in the name of network neutrality, despite the fact that regulations had almost no support in Congress.
America had just seen a shock-wave election in which people overwhelmingly demanded smaller, less intrusive government.
All 95 candidates who signed the Progressive Change Campaign Committee’s pledge to promote Internet regulation lost. That’s 0 for 95. Total repudiation.
The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled unanimously in Comcast v. FCC just eight months prior to this order that such regulations have no legitimate basis in law.
The public overwhelmingly opposed regulation. A Rasmussen poll conducted at the time of the order found that only 21 percent of Americans supported Internet regulation, with 54 percent opposed. The poll also found that 56 percent of Americans thought the FCC would use its newly created powers to pursue a political agenda.
How did we get to the point where the FCC would ignore all of that and regulate the Internet? It took a remarkable political effort from the far Left, and a breakdown in our constitutional system that allowed regulators to bypass Congress. That breakdown must be corrected.
The new leadership in the House of Representatives stepped up early to meet the challenge. House Speaker John Boehner has made overturning the net neutrality order a priority, as has Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton and Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden.
On April 8, 2011 — the same week the House stood up to the Environmental Protection Agency — it used the Congressional Review Act to pass a resolution that would overturn the net neutrality order. It was a solid 240-179 vote, with just six Democrats voting to overturn the order and just two Republicans voting not to.
It passed despite the fact that Obama promised to veto it. That veto threat will be put to the test if 51 senators agree with the House majority.
If indeed the resolution — or any other legislative vehicle to stop the order — succeeds, Obama will be forced to either back down from his veto threat and suffer a political loss, as Congress asserts its rightful authority, or veto and take full ownership of completely disregarding the Constitution and this election to keep pushing left with ever more government control. Either way, it would be a huge statement from Congress that regulatory power grabs will not go unnoticed.
Congress must assert itself now before the Obama administration uses similar regulatory back doors to thwart the electorate and continue shoving the country hard to the left.
Given the complete lack of support for this agenda in Congress or among the American people, this radical FCC power grab may stand as the ultimate test for Obama. If he can get away with this, he can get away with almost anything.
Phil Kerpen is vice president for policy at Americans for Prosperity and author of “Democracy Denied: How Obama Is Ignoring You and Bypassing Congress to Radically Transform America — and How to Stop Him.” The book is available at DemocracyDenied.org.
